2024 CL Scale Nats

Model aircraft on grass in various colors and sizes.

As seen in the November 2024 issue of Model Aviation.

WITH ONLY TWO JUDGES, all of the Control Line (CL) Scale Nats flights were completed in one circle instead of the normal two circles. We flew round one on Friday afternoon, July 12, and then rounds two through four on Saturday, July 13, because of incoming weather.

Model airplanes on grass, varying in size and color.

Models waiting for static judging at the CL Scale Nats included Pete Mazur’s Bearcat (in front) and Mike McHenry’s Cub (end of row).

At the National Association of Scale Aeromodeling (NASA) banquet on Saturday night, Peter Bauer was inducted into the CL Scale Hall of Fame. Peter was involved in the Nats preparation and was on the Fédération Aéronautic Internationale (FAI) F4B CL Scale team that traveled to Romania in August for the 2024 F4 World Championships for Scale Model Aircraft.

Allen Goff had the highest static score in 1/2A with his Brewster Buffalo. Mike McHenry flew his P-39 and had the best flight score of everyone and took first place. Technical problems with Allen’s entry pushed him into fourth place.

Dave Betz flew his Pawnee in 1/2A, while his grandson, Christopher DeGroff, flew his Brodak 1/2A Wildcat. Christopher took second place, while Dave took third place. These two enjoyed the competition. Christopher also soloed this year! When he first flew at the Nats, it was with some coaching from Peter or Mike. Congratulations to him on getting his first solo flight in.

Man on airfield near a small flying model plane.

Dave Betz flew his Pawnee in 1/2A Scale.

There were two teams in Team Scale this year. This is where the builder and the pilot enter as a team. Allen built the Extra 300, while Mike flew the model. I was the pilot for Ed Mason with his electric B-29. The scores were very close after round three, so both teams flew a fourth round. In the end, Allen and Mike had a final score that was one point higher than Ed’s and mine.

Authentic Scale was offered instead of F4B because the FAI F4 World Championships were held this year. In 2025, don’t be surprised if F4B is flown instead of Authentic Scale. Ed was the sole entry in Authentic Scale, and I had the only entry in Profile Scale with my B-29.

We had two entries in Sport Scale, with Mike flying to a first-place finish with his Piper Cub that he took to the F4B World Championships. Ed flew his Constellation. Mike had the high static score for Sport Scale. With only a few points difference in the flight scores, the final places were determined by the static scores.

In Fun Scale, there were three entries. Pete Mazur flew some really nice, hard-tobeat flights with his foam Bearcat ARF that features throttle, flaps, and retractable landing gear. I flew my Great Planes RV-4 to a second-place finish. Allen was third with his Ryan STA, but he had some technical problems with it that kept him from getting his normal flights.

The date and location for the 2025 F4B Team Trials has not been announced yet. The 2026 F4 World Championships will be held in the U.K. I hope to see everyone at the 2025 AMA Nats, where we can fly off of some very smooth circles!

If you are interested, read through the rules on F4B. Make sure that your model can be taken apart, put into a box, and shipped overseas. The logistics of getting yourself, the model, tools, and other equipment there will take a lot of planning.

Site 6 Upgrades

If you flew at the Nats this year, you know that the pavement was in rough shape at Site 6. I am glad to report that Site 6 has been repaved, resulting in a smooth surface that will allow models with large or small wheels to roll freely.

3D Printing

A 3D printer basically takes a 3D shape and prints it by laying down hundreds of layers of melted plastic. The process to 3D-print an item is not fast, but when it’s done properly, it can create items that you can’t find online or in the hobby shop. If you need a pilot seat for the cockpit, you can 3D-print that. If you need a spinner to be a certain shape and size, you can 3D-print that.

Various 3D-printed parts in orange, gray, and green on a table.

This CL handle, brushless electric motor mount, cowling, fuselage former, dummy bomb, and line reel were all 3D printed.

I am flying one of my experimental models with a 3D-printed spinner. I scanned a three-view for the spinner shape, traced the image, then created a 3D model of a spinner. I have more than 15 flights on this spinner without any problems. It is on an electric motor that creates 1,800 watts of power with a 16 × 8 propeller. I wanted to know whether I could use the 3D-printed spinner on a Scale model and have it survive flight loads.

What else can you print? Items include dummy radial engines, pilot figures, CL handles, line reels, cowlings, dummy bombs, or fuselage formers, just to name a few. The handles and line reels that I have printed have proven to be durable throughout the last few months that I have used them. The polyethylene terephthalate glycol (PETG) handle was pull-tested to 100 pounds and only showed minor dents from the metal hook.

White and gray 3D-printed busts, and a gray gear-like object.

3D-printed pilot busts and a dummy radial engine.

There are different materials from which you can print. Polyactic acid (PLA) is one of the more common materials, but it does not like UV exposure from the sun. It’s brittle and has a lower melting temperature compared with PETG. The PETG material that I used for the handles did not have any problems with heat and UV exposure at the Nats this year.

PETG has less structural strength, is less brittle, and can withstand higher temperatures when compared with PLA. The handles, line reels, and the spinner have been able to handle the temperatures and flight conditions during the hot summer months.

To create the custom shapes you want, you will need to get familiar with the software. I use Inkscape to convert the scanned images into a traced image that I can use in the 3D software. I created the fuselage formers by tracing the shape, and then I moved that into a 3D CAD software to create the solid model of the fuselage former. There are lots of programs out there that will allow you to create the 3D solid then export that into an STL file. I used Onshape, but there are many others out there.

The 3D printer starts with an STL file, and then it does some additional processing so that it can print your item. The filament comes in a wide variety of colors.